Narrative:

I wrote up aircraft with a flight control issue on this flight. It was the third flight of the day for this cockpit crew and upon landing (first officer's leg) I decided that this aircraft needed to be looked at by maintenance. Something was not right with its flying capability. The first leg was the first officer's and I noticed he complained with the aircraft's trim. He flew and we had a jumpseat rider. The first officer worked the trim a lot in climb and landing configuration. The landing on the first leg was not one of his best and he usually makes nice landings. But now I feel the aircraft has an issue; not the first officer. I flew the next leg; and I noticed on takeoff the trim was not right; very nose heavy. I made a comment. The aircraft pitch did not want to move smoothly and did require a lot of trim. At times I had to trim to move the elevator to move it smoothly; versus jerky. Then it just seemed to be a badly bent aircraft; like many you see on the line. At cruise on autopilot; it seemed to be fine. On approach; I had to trim the jet for every pitch or aileron movement! It took a lot of trim; and the ailerons seemed to want to roll off at low speed. Still I was not sure it was anything but a bent up aircraft. It did not have the 'normal feel' but it was not a safety issue I felt at the time. We chatted about the trim and effort and I told first officer it was different in pitch and roll on landing configuration. The next leg was first officer's again. On takeoff; he said the trim was wrong again! And it felt very nose heavy. Now we had two takeoffs to compare. Usually loads is right on the takeoff trim; so I knew it was not loads. First officer struggled in the climb with the trim again; but in cruise it trimmed out and was ok on the autopilot. During the landing; again he complained about the excessive amount of trim; and as he went into the flare; I saw him use a whole bunch of left aileron to keep the wings level. It was not normal; and that is when I decided he had a control problem. It was not 'just a feeling' but something I could compare and see. I wrote the aircraft up for control issues. I did discuss it with the outbound captain; maintenance and my first officer. The possibility of sending a bad aircraft back out with revenue was not one I was willing to make. It was time for maintenance to look the aircraft over. I did not attempt to check it out at any time; or try to carry the write-up to our final destination. I was unsure until the two takeoffs and the excessive aileron on the last landing. It might have been very small or a large issue; but it was time to have maintenance take a look. The aircraft did not have the normal feel; even as many are bent but this one was more so. It just took the three flights to make sure the write-up was the correct one vs. Just complaining about a 'bent' aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD80 flight crew; after three legs of questionable flight control characteristics; decided to have maintenance look for a potential mechanical issue.

Narrative: I wrote up aircraft with a flight control issue on this flight. It was the third flight of the day for this cockpit crew and upon landing (First Officer's leg) I decided that this aircraft needed to be looked at by maintenance. Something was not right with its flying capability. The first leg was the First Officer's and I noticed he complained with the aircraft's trim. He flew and we had a jumpseat rider. The First Officer worked the trim a lot in climb and landing configuration. The landing on the first leg was not one of his best and he usually makes nice landings. But now I feel the aircraft has an issue; not the First Officer. I flew the next leg; and I noticed on takeoff the trim was not right; very nose heavy. I made a comment. The aircraft pitch did not want to move smoothly and did require a lot of trim. At times I had to trim to move the elevator to move it smoothly; versus jerky. Then it just seemed to be a badly BENT aircraft; like many you see on the line. At cruise on autopilot; it seemed to be fine. On approach; I had to trim the jet for every pitch or aileron movement! It took a lot of trim; and the ailerons seemed to want to roll off at low speed. Still I was not sure it was anything but a bent up aircraft. It did not have the 'NORMAL FEEL' but it was not a safety issue I felt at the time. We chatted about the trim and effort and I told First Officer it was different in pitch and roll on landing configuration. The next leg was First Officer's again. On takeoff; he said the trim was wrong again! And it felt very nose heavy. Now we had two takeoffs to compare. Usually loads is right on the takeoff trim; so I knew it was not loads. First Officer struggled in the climb with the trim again; but in cruise it trimmed out and was ok on the autopilot. During the landing; again he complained about the excessive amount of trim; and as he went into the flare; I saw him use a whole bunch of left aileron to keep the wings level. It was not normal; and that is when I decided he had a control problem. It was not 'JUST A FEELING' but something I could compare and see. I wrote the aircraft up for control issues. I did discuss it with the outbound Captain; maintenance and my First Officer. The possibility of sending a bad aircraft back out with revenue was not one I was willing to make. It was time for maintenance to look the aircraft over. I did not attempt to check it out at any time; or try to carry the write-up to our final destination. I was unsure until the two takeoffs and the excessive aileron on the last landing. It might have been very small or a large issue; but it was time to have maintenance take a look. The aircraft did not have the normal feel; even as many are bent but this one was more so. It just took the three flights to make sure the write-up was the correct one vs. just complaining about a 'BENT' aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.